How to Keep Wild Crawdads

Learn how to keep wild crawdads as pets or as bait for fish.

Crawdads are frequently eaten as a delicacy in the South, used as bait for fish or as food for pet turtles, but they can also be kept as pets themselves. Catching wild crawdads is relatively easy but keeping them in captivity requires a little bit of planning and maintenance. Before you endeavor to keep wild crawdads for bait, food or as pets learn what equipment and what type of tank set-up is necessary to keep these creatures healthy in captivity.

Things You'll Need

• Plastic or acrylic aquarium
• Water
• Gravel or sand
• Rocks and sticks
• Submersible heater
• Aquarium filter or air stone
• PH test kits
• Eggshells
• Sinking pellet fish food

Instructions

1. Prepare a glass or acrylic aquarium for your crawdads. Make it no smaller than 5 gallons in size for a single crawdad but, if you plan to keep multiple crawdads, use an aquarium no smaller than 15 or 20 gallons.

2. Fill the aquarium to a depth of 3 to 4 inches with water and pour in some sand or gravel substrate to a depth of 1/2 to 1 inch.

3. Place large rocks, branches or even aquarium decorations inside the tank. Provide your crawdads with places to hide but do not overcrowd the aquarium with decorations. Some pieces should be entirely underwater while others should stick out of the water so the crawdads can climb out if they want.

4. Maintain a water temperature between 70 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit through the use of a submersible aquarium heater and aerate the water in the tank using an aquarium filter or an air stone.

5. Maintain a pH in your crawdad tank around 7, which is neutral on the pH scale. Use pH test strips to monitor the pH level and make adjustments when necessary. To maintain pH in your tank you can sprinkle some sterilized egg shells into the water. When the water in the tank becomes too acidic, the egg shells dissolve and the pH stabilizes.

6. Feed your crawdads twice a day with sinking fish food pellets. Sprinkle a small amount of the food in several places around the tank so your crawdads have to forage to find it.

Tips & Warnings

• Branches, rocks and terracotta pots make decorations for crawdad tanks. A small terracotta pot, laid on its side in the tank, provides your crawdads with a place to hide and the top acts as a dry place for them to rest out of the water.

• Crawdads are very territorial creatures so use caution when housing multiple crawdads in one tank. If you do, make sure that the tank is large enough to accommodate them and that there are hiding places on both ends.

References

• Badman's Tropical Fish; Crayfish Care in the Home Aquarium; Susan McClure; 2009
• Petco; Blue Crayfish Care Sheet; 2004